​What's New!

Black History Month 2018 is almost over! Here's a round-up of our daily tweets over the last week using the hashtags #BHM2018 and #fullfacthistory.

Day 22Paul Robeson: athlete, film and stage actor, writer, singer, orator, lawyer and human rights activist. He visited Hull and East Yorkshire several times between 1931 and 1960 performing concerts to his adoring fans.

Day 23Adelaide Hall was an early Jazz pioneer at the Cotton Club, recorded with Duke Ellington and played at the Moulin Rouge in a bid to escape racism in America. She entertained troops during WW2 then came to Hull in 1948.

Day 24Within every family are a myriad of stories to be heard. We are delighted to have encouraged families to talk, listen and discover their own histories. Today we celebrate those in the present and their kin!

Day 25'First Black punk in Hull' Roland Gift led the '80s band Fine Young Cannibals with massive hits like 'She Drives Me Crazy' on their album The Raw and the Cooked. He starred as Danny in Sammy and Rosie Get Laid in 1987.

Day 26A Victorian fashion for showing off 'specimens' of the empire in human zoos saw six Congolese 'Brandesburton Pygmies' shown across the country over a period of three years. This came a century after the Hottentot Venus in 1811.

Day 28Ira Aldridge, the 'African Roscius', was the first famous Black actor on the stage in Britain and a world reknowned Shakespearean actor who made some of his earliest appearances here in East Yorkshire between 1829 and 1859.

Day 15A father and daughter who both contributed to the two war efforts. In WW1, Marcus Bailey of the Royal Navy served on the HMS Chester and likely participated in Jutland. In WW2 Lilian Bader joined NAAFI, then the WAAF.

Day 18When does a slave become a servant? When they are transported across oceans and baptised. Evidence of those who served notable families in Hull and East Yorkshire can be found within our Black servants' stories.

Day 20Physician and activist Dr Harold Moody: "the great work of Wilberforce was made necessary, not because of the sins of my own people, but the sins, the selfishness, and the short-sightedness of your own people.”

Day 21The Fisk Jubilee Singers, a cohort of determined former slaves whose emotionally charged performances of 'slave songs and spirituals' raised sufficient funds to save the Fisk University in the US.

Day 9In the spotlight today are stories of the American anti-slavery campaigners who crossed the seas to raise awareness and gather support: Alexander Crummell, Moses Roper, William Craft, Sella Martin and Henry Box Brown.

Day 11Today we focus on care professionals; Beverley Prevatt Goldstein - a social worker focused on multiculturalism and fostering; Cecilia Anim - president of RCN and Uduak Archibong - an acclaimed nurse.

Day 12Our local connection today features a giant amongst men, John Kufuor, the charismatic leader who advanced healthcare and education during his two presidential terms in Ghana. He visited Hull in 2006 and 2017.

Day 13Two families with origins in the Caribbean: Aubrey Bowers, a Jamaican born in 1892 and Nathaniel Weeks, a Barbadian born in 1871. Their families stayed in East Yorkshire and remain proud of their African heritage.

Day 6Two activists who came to Hull; Una Marson - journalist, poet, and feminist, and Salim C. Wilson - enslaved by Arabs, sold for 6 yards of calico, then campaigned against contemporary slavery as early as 1928.